Pages

Thursday, 22 May 2014

R.C. O'LEARY - HALLWAYS IN THE NIGHT

Looking
for a summer read? The Verdict is in:
"R.C. O'Leary's legal thriller Hallways in the Night is a great read."

Tampa Tribune:"this
legal thriller is certainly hard to put down."

BookStory:"An edge of the seat legal battle.
Unputdownable."

MenReadingBooks:"the
courtroom scenes crackle....the setting and dialogue sing with pure
authenticity."_____________________________________________________________When a veteran cop attempts to arrest baseball's
home run king, one of them ends up on trial and the other ends up dead.

A page-turner from start to finish, Hallways in
the Night will take you on a journey from inner city Atlanta to the upper
echelons of the State's power structure where back room deals are made in
pursuit of the kind of justice that only money can buy.

As the trial date gets closer, the stakes will
get bigger in a case where nobody can afford to tell "the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth."

Another new author for me and another self-published book
again and another excellent read. I think I enjoy legalistic crime fiction when
I allow myself to read it, which is not too often. Note to self …..read more of
these books, you know you like them!

With the exception of the odd John Grisham and Paul Levine
book over the years, plus another under-rated author – A.W. Gray and his Bino –
Texan lawyer books, I haven’t dipped too much into this area of fiction. That’s
a shame because tense court scenes when done well can be gripping and absorbing…….the
expert on the stand, expostulating all manner of theories to put our man on the
spot and the defence lawyer wading in and dismantling and belittling the hired
gun whilst redressing the balance of probabilities in the mind-set of the jury……what’s
not to like?

Here in Hallways
we have a cop, Dave Mackno put on the stand by Maurice Bass, an ambitious prosecutor
who has eyes on a political career. An altercation with celebrated Atlanta
baseball star, Remo Centrella ends up with our home-run king – dead and our veteran
cop and defendant, Dave Mackno in hospital with life threatening injuries.

Mackno is initially cleared by Internal Affairs who
investigate the shooting, but with some political shenanigans behind the scenes
involving Ray Manning, the owner of the baseball team - the Atlanta Barons, that
Remo starred for and the State Governor, Frank Durkin after Manning’s insurance
company declined to pay out on the near $50 million policy on Centrella’s life
as the killing had been ruled as self-defence; Bass is
pressured/bribed/sweetened to prosecute Mackno.

Great trial scenes and court-room confrontations follow, but
we also get more of the history of our combatants. Bass and his identity issues
as a black man adopted by a white family. Manning and his wives and children and
troubled business interests and Mackno – his career as a decent cop, his
drinking, his partner and the strength of his marriage and the unwavering
support of his wife.

O’Leary is currently penning a follow-up to this his debut
and it’s something I will be looking forward to reading in the future. If I can
find out where he hails from, I may be able to count this as an entry in my US
State Reading Challenge, something which has stuttered of late.

Hey Col. Glad you enjoyed "Hallways in the Night" but legal thrillers are not my thing says the outlier. Rare rare thing to get me to pick one up. In my whole collection I own just two legal thrillers and one was a gift by somebody and the other is Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow based on Margot's rec from way back.

I know exactly what you mean - I rarely seek them out, I don't think of them as my favourites, but legal thrillers are the best when they are good. I love all that courtroom grandstanding, and the last-minute witness, and the unexpected twists. I should read more, and this one does sound good. One of my favourite films of all time is My Cousin Vinny, the perfect courtroom drama and hilarious too.

Col, I am happy that you have read another 5 star book. I don't read many legal thrillers either, and I would like to change that, but too much else I want to read. I am way behind on espionage books...

Tracy, I think I'm way behind on everything, not just espionage, but Scottish, TBR Mountain.........but either I get caught up or I don't. I think I'll eventually complete them either this year (maybe) or next - then just read for pleasure without putting any targets in place other than number of books read.

From memory it was about a former Nazi who felt he had been libelled and he took someone to court, where the actions of him and others during the war were exposed to scrutiny. I think he won the case and was awarded a penny in damages, but obviously lost in the court of public opinion.I seem to remember it being dramatised, perhaps as a mini-series as opposed to a film, but I could be wrong. Uris' books always seemed to deal with Israel and support for Jewish causes.

Hmmm! A state reading challenge! Love that idea Col, though I'd probably need a good bit of help from my fellow bloggers once I got beyond Louisiana, Wyoming and Texas (James Lee Burke), I've got George Pelecanos for Washington DC (not the state, I don't know what state it's in, my mind's gone blank!), Robert B Parker for New York (plus Linda Fairstein, and many others), Dennis Lehane for Massachusetts, Michael Connelly (and Robert Crais) for California - and again, countless others. That's just off the top of my head. Now all I need is a year to do the reading....mind you, likewise it works well, about a book a week! PS Just checked Wikipedia, Washington isn't actually in a state.

There'll be plenty of help around when needed! I think I will take more than the year TBH, but I will get there in the end. Connelly, Crais, Lehane and Parker I'm familiar with, though I thought Parker was Boston, so Massachusetts as opposed to New York. James Lee Burke - I have enjoyed in the past, but I have fallen out of love with Robicheaux now.

It would be good to see you join in. Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise has a separate co-ordinating part of her blog for this challenge, though I've not been by it in a while.

I have signed up to follow "crimeworm", and have noticed you dropping by here on occasions. Unfortunately I can't see a profile for you on your blog, so don't know your name! I don't want to appear rude when responding to your comments!

T.M. Logan 's 29 Seconds was looked at on the blog yesterday - here . Today the author kindly answers a few que...

Search This Blog

CATCHING UP WITH MY WIFE AND SON

Harlan Coben - Just One LookHarlan Coben - Stay Close

Tess Gerritsen - Last To Die

Jess Walter - The Financial Lives Of The Poets

Zoran Drvenkar - Sorry

Julia Crouch - Cuckoo

Wiley Cash - A Land More Kind Than Home

Gavin Extence - The Universe Versus Alex Woods

Oliver Stark - American Devil

Harlan Coben - The Innocents

David Mitchell - Cloud AtlasChuck Palahnuik - Fight Club

Aldous Huxley - Brave New World

Charlie McDowell - Dear Girls Above Me

10 behind my wife............she's getting away from me! 4 behind my son! I reckon I can reel her back in during the second half of the year!Not always my cup of tea - but I like reading what my better half has read, I find it promotes some learned discourse over the dinner table!